Have You Got A Bad Back?

Ancient photo from the 70’s. I think the bus driver’s name is Roger. You can see him in the rear view mirror. He did lots of snuff which fascinated me at the time. I’m too lazy to figure out where this is. Some border.

I didn’t do NaNoWriMo but I did my own version which was a goal of 1000 words a day or 30K for the month. I made 31,500K. It wasn’t easy and they weren’t pretty words and a few times I was dangerously behind but in the end it all came out okay. These words are going to translate into a short story that’s a long story, I guess technically a novelette. We’ll see. If I keep talking about it I’m going to jinx it.

It started in the summer and went on and on and I did what I usually do when I have a pain and I took some over-the-counter pain relievers and otherwise ignored it.

After three months I decided it was ridiculous to be in so much pain all the time and I consulted an army of medical professionals. They cracked and poked and prodded and massaged and were generally unimpressed with my problem.

I learned a few exercises and I think the physical therapy helped a little bit but overall I think it was just something that had to go away on its own and it’s still going away. I have a blizzard of incomprehensible health insurance statements (long bitter rant about health insurance omitted) and a few checks to write.

Meanwhile, inserted in a recent statement from my health insurance — a handout with “Tips to Relieve Back Pain at Home.”

#1 Give it time.

#2 Take over-the-counter medicine.

#3 Get Active again.

Yeah, thanks. I’d love to see the moron who drafted this form keep up with my yoga practice.

4 Responses to Have You Got A Bad Back?

I get love notes from my insurance telling me that I’m not taking my blood pressure medicine as prescribed, and then a pamphlet explaining how important it is. I felt like writing back, “I lost 40 lbs! I don’t need it anymore!”

Of course, they’re the same insurance that sends my husband a reminder every year to get his pap smear.

There are lots of quack chiropractors but I must admit that the good ones help my neck. My lower back hurts more the less active I get, so I make it a point to slog 3 miles a night for 3 or 4 nights a week to keep it limber. i don’t know if that’s possible for you, but it does help me. Nothing helps my neck except a chiropractor, though, or hanging upside down for an hour.